


Takes Two Wings To Fly

by slotumn



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Codependency, F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Incest, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Returning Home, Sibling Incest, These Fuckers Need Therapists, Trauma, Twincest, no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:41:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22657186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slotumn/pseuds/slotumn
Summary: Izabel von Ochs and Izaiah von Ochs are footnotes in the past.There's only Winged Terror Izabel and Winged Horror Izaiah now.Or so they'd like to believe.---OC-centric fic set in Verdant Wind route.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth & Original Character(s), Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 4





	Takes Two Wings To Fly

_For Hire_

The twins, Izabel and Izaiah, kill for coins. 

That's what mercenaries do, after all.

Currently they fight for the Alliance army because they're the only ones who can pay well, since the Kingdom is in ruins, and the Empire...

Perhaps the Empire would pay better, but there are other risks associated with that. 

The head tactician and general of the Alliance, Byleth Eisner, used to be a mercenary as well.

But she's not fighting for money anymore, and the duo figures that's because being an avatar of the Goddess is a better insurance than cash. 

Well, not everyone can be blessed with divine powers. 

For the siblings, their mounts, spears, money, and each other are the only things that won't fail them. 

\---

_(Ex-)Pupils_

They get a chance to directly talk with General Byleth, surprisingly enough. 

And there must have been a pinch of truth in the former Garreg Mach students saying she's actually kind despite looking deadpan, because she comes with several gifts and lost items. 

She stays a little longer than they expected, however. 

"I heard you two were students at the Officer's Academy once."

Where the hell did she hear that?

"Hanneman and some other teachers recognized you."

Of course. 

"Black Eagles?"

Before Izabel can signal at him to watch it, Izaiah nods.

"I see."

Then she walks away. 

\---

_Connections_

Technically, the teachers aren't the only ones there who might know of Izabel and Izaiah.

The heir of House Gautier, who they encountered back when they were hired by the Sreng tribes, is fighting under the Alliance flag, for some reason.

So is the crown princess of Brigid, and a mercenary from Dagda.

Plus some nobles from Fódlan's Fangs.

The twins avoid talking to any of them. 

Not that they're particularly talkative even outside of that.

\---

_Horror, Terror_

The second time they talk, General Byleth cautiously asks if the two of them have stayed in contact with their families. 

They haven't, of course. 

And whatever news there is about their house, the twins want to believe that it won't have any impact on them.

Izabel von Ochs and Izaiah von Ochs are footnotes in the past. 

There's only Winged Terror Izabel and Winged Horror Izaiah now. 

\---

_Eyes, Tongue_

Izabel rarely has visual dreams anymore, but there are a few exceptions. 

They're more like re-livings of the situations than dreams, really. She wakes up panicking at not being able to see anything, just like she did ten years ago, and only calms down when she feels Izaiah hold her and hum.

Sometimes it's the reverse, where Izaiah wakes up making scared, pitiful noises in an attempt to talk, and Izabel has to comfort him by whispering that she's here, and the people who hurt him-- hurt them-- aren't. 

Of course, the worst is when they both have nightmares at the same time.

\---

_Taboo_

General Byleth walks in on them one day, and that's the third time they talk. 

Rumors that they're in an incestuous relationship has followed them since...before they were mercenaries, but someone actually catching it is another thing entirely. 

Izabel requests that Byleth not tell this to anyone, more politely than she's ever been. (She doesn't consider it begging as long as the word "please" isn't in there.)

Byleth says she won't. 

The general's voice and gaze isn't judgemental at all, and that shocks the twins. 

In fact, it was almost like...

...that of a teacher concerned for her students. 

What a foolish notion. 

The Ashen Demon and avatar of the Goddess may have been a teacher at one point, but she wasn't _their_ teacher. 

And she's probably younger than the two of them, for Goddess' sakes. 

\---

_Clipped Eagle Wings_

They generally avoided working in, or near, Empire territory in the past. That's not an option now, as the Alliance army prepares to launch a strike on Enbarr. 

As professionals, they usually know better than to be swept up by personal emotions during battle.

But something about charging towards Emperor Edelgard along with all the others in the battalion is too surreal to process with a clear mind. 

With her death, Adrestia is no more. The flag they once fought under, then were betrayed by, sets with the sun. 

How bittersweet, Izabel mutters.

Izaiah nods and holds her hand.

\---

_Neon Dubstep Body Snatchers_

It ain't over 'til it's over, someone once said. 

During the month preparing for a strike on...whatever the fuck it was, General Byleth requests to talk to them first. 

She tells them their younger cousin, Monica, is most likely dead and missing. 

(They aren't too surprised.)

She also says that the enemies they will be fighting this month-- Those Who Suck Dick In The Dark or something?-- replaced her with one of their cronies five years ago and used her likeness to do awful things. 

(They don't really want to know the details.)

"None of that has anything to do with us anymore," Izabel replies.

Byleth looks sorrowful, pitying, whatever that sad puppy expression means, but lets them go. 

\---

_At The Bench_

Their battalion doesn't participate in the final battle against the somehow-revived King of Liberation.

While the main forces stand off against legends, Izabel and Izaiah organize what little belongings they have and ponder what to do next. 

"...It's really been wiped out, huh. House Ochs."

Izaiah turns away. 

"No, it's fine, you can cry."

He makes a noise, and it may not mean anything to outsiders, but between them it conveys all that needs to be said. 

Such as, we didn't do anything wrong.

Or, why didn't anyone save us. 

Why did it have to be us. 

\---

_Scapegoat's Fangs_

In Imperial Year 1175, seventeen-year old Izabel and Izaiah von Ochs return home from Garreg Mach Officer's Academy to join the battle against the invading forces.

They fight as well as they can, but even then, the barony's forces weren't prepared for the surprise attack. 

Father, Mother, their older brothers and sisters, and most other adult relatives die during battle, so the twins end up in command. 

They're not very good at it.

All the nobles are in panic. _How could we be losing against those barbarians?!_

Someone needs to take the blame.

_You two are conspiring with them, aren't you. Your house is in ruins anyway, so you're trying to join the enemy because you can't beat them._

_Look at how much worse the losses have gotten since you two have taken control of the forces. This can't be anything but on purpose._

_Admit it, traitor, or else your precious twin might suffer a worse fate._

The claims are preposterous, but the madness of wartime can't be reasoned with. 

Nobody comes to rescue them-- not other houses near them, not the Emperor, not Lord Arundel, and of course not their families.

In the end, they run away with the only thing they have left: each other.

\---

_Ending Clichés_

Everyone celebrates, and the twins aren't so antisocial as to turn down free food and drinks (even though Izaiah can't taste).

Still, the discussions going around the table (about Lord Riegan actually being crown prince of Almyra, truth about Seiros and the Nabateans, can you believe Byleth is going to be the queen) doesn't interest them much.

Meanwhile, General Byleth mostly hangs around with her students and colleagues, but she takes time to go around greeting all the troops. 

She stops by their tables as well, and asks if the soldiers have any plans. Many of them give the expected answers-- they want to keep working for her because she's inspired them, they're going back to their families, they're going into new ventures. 

Izabel and Izaiah are the only ones who haven't answered, and the tactician doesn't pass them by like they expected her to. 

"Do you two have any plans?"

"...Not particularly."

"That's fine, too."

It's odd how comforting that was to hear.

\---

_Homecoming_

In the Imperial Year 1185, after watching General-- no, Queen Byleth's coronation, the twins ride their pegasus and wyvern a little bit south to west. 

For what, they aren't sure of. 

Unlike that girl from House Nuvelle, reviving a dead house isn't their thing. 

They're not ready to settle down, either. Not yet. Call it acquired wanderlust, from always being on flying mounts. 

But as the sight of the mountain ranges, scent of the ocean breeze, and sound of seabird cries envelope them--

\--so does that unbearably warm, uncontrollably surging, undeniably familiar feeling. 

"We're home."

**Author's Note:**

> As it turns out, I have OCs. 
> 
> The initial idea behind this fic was to explore how the war would look from perspective of one of those generic soldiers in the battalion, but then something happened and insert "are actually of noble birth etc etc" trope.
> 
> Izabel and Izaiah would still be part of a battalion and not their own units, though. 
> 
> In case their backstory was a bit difficult to follow:  
> -Izabel and Izaiah are born to House Ochs; are pegasus/falcon knight and wyvern rider/lord respectively  
> -Attended Officer's Academy, but that same year Dagda and Brigid War breaks out, so they return home and fight  
> -Everything is going to shit, they have to take charge of the barony's forces at tender age of 17 because all the adults are dead  
> -They suck at it (weakness: Authority) rack up a bunch of losses and get accused of conspiring with the enemy by paranoid nobles  
> -Both get tortured for it, Izabel loses her eyes, Izaiah loses his tongue, but they somehow manage to run away  
> -They become mercenaries, better known as "Winged Horror Izabel" and "Winged Terror Izaiah" and avoid their past like the plague, working as far from the Empire territory as possible-- so much so that they get hired by Sreng tribes far up north for a while  
> -Then the war breaks out, and House Gautier can't focus on fighting Sreng anymore, so they go find a different job and end up hired by the Alliance army


End file.
